In one way it is symbolic of the African Americans' struggle for equality throughout our nation's history. The various hardships that the narrator must endure, in his quest to deliver his speech, are representative of the many hardships that the blacks went through in their fight for equality.

The narrator in Ellison's short story suffers much. He is considered to be one of the brighter youths in his black community. The young man is given the opportunity to give a speech to some of the more prestigious white individuals. The harsh treatment that he is dealt in order to perform his task is quite symbolic. It represents the many hardships that the African American people endured while they fought to be treated equally in the United States. He expects to give his speech in a positive and normal environment. What faces him is something that he never would have imagined. The harsh conditions that the boys competing in the battle royal must face are phenomenal. At first the boys are ushered into a room where a nude woman is dancing. The white men yell at the boys for looking and not looking at the woman. It is as if they are showing them all

The dream that the narrator has at the end of the story is very important as well. He describes his grandfather as having him open envelope after envelope, finally reaching one that held a document. On it was written "To Whom It May Concern, Keep this Nigger-Boy Running." This represents many of the hardships that the African American people had to deal with over the years. Even though the narrator was given a degree of respect by giving his speech it was not nearly enough. The whites gave him his briefcase and congratulated him and that was it. The dream shows that they were just casting the narrator off, not really giving him anything valid at all. They said "Nice job," but this really isn't much at all. The white men still felt and air of superiority, sending the narrator off to busy himself with tasks that they felt were relevant. He felt good about all of this at the time, but he will just be living the life that the whites envision he should have. This represents what happened in out nation's history as well. The whites tried to appease our nation's black population by giving them certain rights but never really letting them be truly equal.

Ralph Ellison's short story, "Battle Royal" is very significant. It is representative of the many

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Approximate Word count = 854
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)